SXSW Friday Recap

Day two of SXSW is on the books. For those of you that don't follow along @Cincy_Music, Cincinnati's own Ohio Knife staged a big guerrilla PR stunt right in the middle of SXSW today. With help from Landor Unleash, Ohio Knife quickly set up on the street and performed a few songs while they gave away 100 guitars to people that came rushing out from nearby venues. You can check out the video here.

Between this stunt and The Pinstripes busking down 6th street last night I can't tell you how impressed I am by our local musicians. I'm sure that there are much more notable things to talk about, like 50 Cent's impromptu show, but I'm more interested in telling you how much ambition these young artists from Cincinnati are showing out here.

Prior to Ohio Knife's publicity stunt I sat in panels most of the morning that covered publicity in the digital era and how to engage your consumers. It was pretty impressive that of all the ideas that came up in the panels, Ohio Knife's stunt took the cake. I got to see a ton of bands today including Bass drum of death, OFF!, Ohio Knife, Ed Sheeran, and ZULU Winter. I caught a few songs from many others, but it would take forever to list them here. SXSW is absolutely something everyone that loves music should experience at least once.

I know that everyone has been buzzing about Alabama Shakes, but my big buzz band is absolutely Ed Sheeran. He uses loops to create one-man wall of sound. Very similar to Howie Day, but much more multidimensional. He has a few ballads that sound more folky and I thought for a moment that it was a different person on stage. Based on everything I've learned about Ed Sheeran, I would not expect him to stay unknown for very long at all.